Mechanical and chemical-mechanical planarizing processes (collectively "CMP") are used in the manufacturing of microelectronic devices for forming a flat surface on semiconductor wafers, field emission displays and many other microelectronic substrates. FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a planarizing machine 10 with a platen or table 20, a carrier assembly 30, a polishing pad 40, and a planarizing fluid 44 on the polishing pad 40. The planarizing machine 10 may also have an under-pad 25 attached to an upper surface 22 of the platen 20 for supporting the polishing pad 40. In many planarizing machines, a drive assembly 26 rotates (arrow A) and/or reciprocates (arrow B) the platen 20 to move the polishing pad 40 during planarization.
The carrier assembly 30 controls and protects a substrate 12 during planarization. The carrier assembly 30 typically has a substrate holder 32 with a pad 34 that holds the substrate 12 via suction. A drive assembly 36 of the carrier assembly 30 typically rotates and/or translates the substrate holder 32 (arrows C and D, respectively). The substrate holder 32, however, may be a weighted, free-floating disk (not shown) that slides over the polishing pad 40.
The combination of the polishing pad 40 and the planarizing fluid 44 generally define a planarizing medium that mechanically and/or chemically-mechanically removes material from the surface of the substrate 12. The polishing pad 40 may be a conventional polishing pad composed of a polymeric material (e.g., polyurethane) without abrasive particles, or it may be an abrasive polishing pad with abrasive particles fixedly bonded to a suspension material. In a typical application, the planarizing fluid 44 may be a CMP slurry with abrasive particles and chemicals for use with a conventional nonabrasive polishing pad. In other applications, the planarizing fluid 44 may be a chemical solution without abrasive particles for use with an abrasive polishing pad.
To planarize the substrate 12 with the planarizing machine 10, the carrier assembly 30 presses the substrate 12 against a planarizing surface 42 of the polishing pad 40 in the presence of the planarizing fluid 44. The platen 20 and/or the substrate holder 32 then move relative to one another to translate the substrate 12 across the planarizing surface 42. As a result, the abrasive particles and/or the chemicals in the planarizing medium remove material from the surface of the substrate 12.
CMP processes must consistently and accurately produce a uniformly planar surface on the substrate to enable precise fabrication of circuits and photo-patterns. Prior to being planarized, many substrates have large "step heights" that create a highly topographic surface across the substrate. Yet, as the density of integrated circuits increases, it is necessary to have a planar substrate surface at several stages of processing the substrate because non-uniform substrate surfaces significantly increase the difficulty of forming sub-micron features or photo-patterns to within a tolerance of approximately 0.1 .mu.m. Thus, CMP processes must typically transform a highly topographical substrate surface into a highly uniform, planar substrate surface (e.g., a "blanket surface").
In the competitive semiconductor industry, it is highly desirable to maximize the throughput of CMP processing by producing a blanket surface on a substrate as quickly as possible. The throughput of CMP processing is a function of several factors, one of which is the ability to accurately stop CMP processing at a desired endpoint. In a typical CMP process, the desired endpoint is reached when the surface of the substrate is a blanket surface and/or when enough material has been removed from the substrate to form discrete components on the substrate (e.g., shallow trench isolation areas, contacts, damascene lines, etc.). Accurately stopping CMP processing at a desired endpoint is important for maintaining a high throughput because the substrate may need to be re-polished if the substrate is "under-planarized." Accurately stopping CMP processing at the desired endpoint is also important because too much material can be removed from the substrate, and thus the substrate may be "over-polished." For example, over-polishing can cause "dishing" in shallow-trench isolation structures, or over-polishing can complete destroy a section of the substrate. Thus, it is highly desirable to stop CMP processing at the desired endpoint.
In one conventional method for determining the endpoint of CMP processing, the planarizing period of one substrate in a run is estimated using the polishing rate of previous substrates in the run. The estimated planarizing period for a particular substrate, however, may not be accurate because the polishing rate may change from one substrate to another. Thus, this method may not accurately planarize all of the substrates in a run to the desired endpoint.
In another method for determining the endpoint of CMP processing, the substrate is removed from the pad and the substrate carrier, and then a measuring device measures a change in thickness of the substrate. Removing the substrate from the pad and substrate carrier, however, is time-consuming and may damage the substrate. Thus, this method generally reduces the throughput of CMP processing.
In still another method for determining the endpoint of CMP processing, a portion of the substrate is moved beyond the edge of the pad, and an interferometer directs a beam of light directly onto the exposed portion of the substrate. The substrate, however, may not be in the same reference position each time it overhangs the pad. For example, because the edge of the pad is compressible, the substrate may not be at the same elevation for each measurement. Thus, this method may inaccurately measure the change in thickness of the wafer.
In yet another method for determining the endpoint of CMP processing, U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,015, which is herein incorporated by reference, discloses detecting the planar endpoint by sensing a chance in friction between a wafer and the polishing medium. Such a change of friction may be produced by a different coefficient of friction at the wafer surface as one material (e.g., an oxide) is removed from the wafer to expose another material (e.g., a nitride). In addition to the different coefficients of friction caused by a change of material at the substrate surface, the friction between the wafer and the planarizing medium generally increases during CMP processing because more surface area of the substrate contacts the polishing pad as the substrate becomes more planar. U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,075 discloses detecting the change in friction by measuring the change in current through the platen drive motor and/or the drive motor for the substrate holder.
Although the endpoint detection technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,015 is an improvement over the previous endpointing methods, the increase in current through the motors may not accurately indicate the endpoint of a substrate. For example, the friction between the substrate and the planarizing medium generally increases substantially linearly, and thus the rate that the motor current increases at the end point may not be different enough from the rest of the CMP cycle to provide a definite signal identifying that the endpoint has been reached. In one application in which a substrate was planarized in a Rodel ILD-1300 slurry, the current through the platen motor increased from approximately 19 to 20 amps from the beginning to the endpoint of the CMP process. Moreover, the rate that the platen motor current increased was substantially constant making it difficult to determine when the substrate surface became at least substantially planar. Therefore, CMP processing may be stopped at an inaccurate elevation within the substrate using the apparatus and method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,015.